Artificial teeth



J. P. PORTER. Artificial Teeth.

(No Model.)

No. 233,013. Patented Oct. 5, I880.

mx fw 4 7 7 7% N. FUERS, PNOTO-UTHOGRAPH UNrTao STaTns PATENT @rrrcaJOHN F. PORTER, OF VVOOSTER, OHIO.

ARTlFlClAL TEETH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,013, dated October5, 1880. Application filed July'23, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN F. PORTER, a citi zen of the United States,residing at Wooster, inthe county ofVVayne and State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Artificial Teeth, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The nature of my invention consists in an artificial tooth formed with afront and a rear clasping flange or wing, and with side edges whichtaper inwardly from the crown of the tooth to its biting or grindingsurface. This construction of tooth can be placed between two naturalstanding teeth having a space be tween them from which a tooth has beeneX- tracted, and when so placed will be kept from descending out of thewedge-shaped space or rising out of said space, accordingly as it may beapplied to the upper or lower jaw, and it will also be kept from movingbackward or forward. The plan is such that a base-plate and a peg aredispensed with, and thus the extra expense, as well as the annoyanceexperienced with the old plans, are avoided. \Vith the old plans thetooth is apt to come down or break off in biting with it, and thecapability of tasting with the roof of the mouth is impaired andinconvenience from the plate and tooth becoming foul is experienced.

My invention can .be applied to two or more artificial teeth connectedtogether by any of the known modes of pinning or cementing teeth intosets, and in such use of it the outer tooth at each end of a set of two,three, or more would be formed with a tapering side edge, and with thefront and rear flanges, or all of the set may have the said flanges.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of aportion of a human jaw, showing two perfect or natural teeth with myimproved artificial tooth between them. This view shows a part of thelower jaw. Fig. 2 is an elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a verticalcross-section of Fig.1. Fig. 4c is a similar view to Fig. 3, but showinga front tooth instead of a jaw-tooth.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate like parts.

A and A represent two natural teeth in a jaw, B. The cavity or spacebetween these teeth is, as usual, of wedge shape, from the fact i thatthe teeth gradually enlarge from the point a to the point I). The teethA and A, on account of being set flexibly in sockets, can he sprungapart to a slight extent for the admission between them of wedge-shapedartificial tooth, and owing to this I am enabled to employ anicely-fitted artificial tooth, G, having tapering side edges, 0 c, andto insert it vertically into the wedgeshaped space formed between aandb, as shown in Fig. 2. The artificial tooth thus applied will be claspededgewise by the natural teeth, and cannot move vertically outward frombetween either an upper or lower pair of natural teeth.

On the artificial tooth, at front, a deep flange I or wing, d, isformed, and a similar flange, d,

is formed on said tooth at the back, as shown in Figs. 3, 4. v

The flanges d and d clasp the human gum and jaw, and also the naturalteeth, it desirable, at front and rear, as shown in the drawings, and bythis means the tooth is prevented from moving backward and forward,while the wedge fit of the tooth between the two natural teeth preventsit from moving vertically. Thus it will be seen that the tooth (J isheld from moving inward and outward by the flanges d d, and is kept frommoving vertically by its wedge fit between the points a; and Z). Thewedge form of the tooth, as at c 0, gives it a corresponding form to thevacuum or space between the natural teeth, and since this space is, inthe case of back teeth, always larger next thejaws than at the crown ofthe teeth, and is most always so in front teeth, the invention cangenerally be employed in all parts of the month between standing teeth.

In applyingmy invention to two or more artificial teeth the two, three,or other number of teeth are joined together and the rubber runs underthem and makes a cup-like groove to fit the jaw. The several teeth areprovided with flanges similar to (Z d, and a taper form is given to theouter edge of the two outermost teeth.

The tooth as herein described has been found very serviceable to theinventor, and it is found that apples and other articles of the likenature can be eaten with it without liability of breakage.

The artificial tooth or teeth are to be made of porcelain or othersuitable material and the gum portion of rubber, such as dentistsgenerally use.

Prior to my invention teeth have been set on a plate which extends upagainst the roof of the mouth in form of a spring-pad, such spring-padserving to hold the artificial teeth in place. It also has beenproposed, in c011 neetion with said plate and pad, to provide grooves orchannels in the sides of the artificial teeth. My invention differs fromthis in having the artificial tooth tapering, and in providing it with afront and a back flange, both flanges being rigid and of a formcorresponding to the gums, and they bearingagaiust the gums and thenatural teeth. It also has been common, prior to my invention, toprovide a tooth or a series of teeth with holdingpins, and to weight theteeth with a piece of metal, for the purpose of preventing accidentaldetachment from their base; but I believe it is new to construct a toothor a series of teeth in the peculiar manner herein described by me, andto provide such tooth or teeth ivith front and rear flanges.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

One or more artificial teeth, 0, having the tapering form, as at c, andprovided With the rigid front and rear flanges, d and 61, said

